1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications and more specifically to a method, system and computer program product for local number portability costing and network management support.
2. Discussion of the Background
Without limiting the invention, its background is described in connection with local telephone services and providers of such services. In addition, provided herein, for convenience, at Appendix I is a glossary of terms of art and acronyms used throughout this disclosure.
In general, the telecommunications industry has evolved into a highly competitive and sophisticated network of equipment manufacturers and service providers. Since the early 1980s, the industry has seen a shift from pure analog techniques useful for transmitting signals over copper wire to digital techniques useful for transmitting signals over optical fiber. Today, customers can choose from a large array of consumer telecommunications services including local and long distance calling, 800 and 900 calling accounts, TCP/IP (i.e., the xe2x80x9cInternetxe2x80x9d or world wide web xe2x80x9cWEBxe2x80x9d) and others.
Typically, a telecommunications customer obtains access to such services by establishing an account with a service provider. The service provider, in turn, will assign to the customer a telephone number for inbound calls or provide the customer with a dial-up number for outbound calls. For example, the number can be the local telephone number where the customer can be reached such as a home or business. The number can also be the local dial-in to an automated system for a switched connection to a network element such as a domain server. Other examples include, but are not limited to, a customer""s facsimile machine, cell phone number or voice mail.
At the same time industry deregulation has brought about the entry of multiple service providers within single geographic regions. In addition to competition, the number and variety of telecommunications services continues to increase. Typically, a category of service is tied to a single unique number so that any one customer may require a host of numbers to accommodate a host of services. Thus, a common situation has evolved wherein a single customer will have a home number, an office number, a facsimile machine number, a cell phone number, an Internet account number and possibly others.
Today""s service providers employ advanced information technology systems using sophisticated equipment such as routers, switches and digital cross-connects. At a minimum, the equipment must be configured to ensure calls reach their destination regardless of the service provider. While standards and communications protocols have been adopted by the industry, cooperation amongst service providers has been critical to implementing a reliable network. Today, a customer can place a clear noise free call from almost anywhere in the world.
The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) comprises the telecommunications backbone for most voice/data traffic in the world. For most local and long distance telephone calls a local telephone company acts as a local entry point to the PSTN. Typically, a Local Routing Number (LRN) is used to route the call from a point of origination to a point of destination on the PSTN. This is true regardless of who is servicing the call at either point.
This infrastructure, however, does not always accommodate a change in the service needs of an end customer. For example, often a customer desires to switch service providers to take advantage of a more attractive rate plan. The problem lies in that the customer is not guaranteed to maintain the same local number even if the customer remains at the same location. Thus, until recently, there was no way to port a customer""s number from one service provider to another within the same local region.
In short, as competition for communications services has grown so has the value attached to a customer""s telephone number. At present, call routing is based on a number associated with the switch used to handle the local call. Moreover, service providers have not developed a means for reliable call routing when a switch from one provider to another is made. Previously, the only solution was to assign a new telephone number not already in use by another customer.
While long distance carriers have enacted portability solutions on a regional or even national basis for certain classes of services, such as 800 and 900 accounts, the local portability problem has not, until the present invention, been squarely addressed. Moreover, prior art efforts at local number portability have not been widespread. For example, an industry task force was formed, pursuant to the Illinois Commerce Commission Order on Customers First Plan (Docket 94-0096 dated Apr. 7, 1995), to develop a permanent number portability solution for Illinois. While the task force made progress in defining the problem and resolving certain issues related to implementing local number portability, it did not resolve the problem on a nationwide basis. Nor did the commission establish the hardware and software interfaces required to implement a nationwide portability solution.
Systems for achieving local number portability on a nationwide basis and for allowing sharing a single telephone number over different local exchange carriers are disclosed, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/897,906, filed Jul. 21, 1997, and entitled xe2x80x9cSystem and Method for Achieving Local Number Portability,xe2x80x9d and the other cross-referenced applications indicated above as being related to the present application.
Local number portability typically requires use of an external entity, the Number Portability Subscription Manager (NPSM), to handle the porting of local telephone numbers between Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs).
However, use of the NPSM service typically requires (i) payment for transactions which are typically billed monthly, and (ii) monitoring user (e.g., telecommunications service provider) and NPSM activity to insure that the user""s network traffic successfully completes. In addition, it is desirable to monitor user (e.g., telecommunications service provider), competitor and NPSM activity to insure that the user can more fully address the local number porting market opportunity. In addition, current user interfaces fail to combine full functionality, ease of use, and Year 2000 (Y2K) compliance.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a novel method, system and computer program product for providing local number portability costing and network management support.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel method, system and computer program product for a WEB or Internet based tool for auditing local number portability charges.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel method, system and computer program product for a WEB or Internet based tool for network management support.
The above and other objects are achieved according to the present invention by providing a novel process, system and computer readable medium for interfacing to a local number portability (LNP) network, including coupling a graphical user interface (GUI) to an engine interface via a communications link; transmitting data, via the engine interface, from the LNP network to the GUI via the communications link and transmitting data received from the GUI to the LNP network; providing screen displays to a user, via the GUI, for performing LNP network maintenance functions including at least one of maintaining a service provider (SP), maintaining a numbering plan area-telephone number exchange (NPA-NXX), and maintaining local routing number (LRN); and providing screen displays to a user, via the GUI, for performing LNP subscription version (SV) maintenance functions including at least one of creating as a gaining SV, creating as a losing SV, activating a SV, modifying a SV, cancelling a SV, disconnecting a SV, acknowledging cancellation of a SV, resolving a conflict with a SV, and querying a SV.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a novel process, system and computer readable medium for interfacing to a local number portability (LNP) network, including coupling a graphical user interface (GUI) to an engine interface via a communications link; transmitting, via the engine interface, data from the LNP network to the GUI via the communications link and transmitting data received from the GUI to the LNP network; providing screen displays to a user, via the GUI, for performing reconciling with a number portability administration center (NPAC) functions including at least one of initiating a NPAC audit, and querying a NPAC audit; and providing screen displays to a user, via the GUI, for performing viewing of LNP notifications functions including at least one of viewing operational information notifications, viewing cancellation acknowledge notifications, viewing customer disconnect notifications, viewing create request notifications, viewing concurrence request notifications, viewing subscription version (SV) status change notifications, viewing final concurrence notifications, and viewing a first use of numbering plan area-telephone number exchange (NPA-NXX) notifications.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a novel process, system and computer readable medium for interfacing to a local number portability (LNP) network, including coupling a graphical user interface (GUI) to a engine interface via a communications link; transmitting data, via the engine interface, from the LNP network to the GUI via the communications link and transmitting data received from the GUI to the LNP network; providing screen displays to a user, via the GUI, for performing LNP network maintenance functions including at least one of maintaining a service provider (SP), maintaining a numbering plan area-telephone number exchange (NPA-NXX), and maintaining local routing number (LRN); providing screen displays to a user, via the GUI, for performing LNP subscription version (SV)maintenance functions including at least one of creating as a gaining SV, creating as a losing SV, activating a SV, modifying a SV, cancelling a SV, disconnecting a SV, acknowledging cancellation of a SV, resolving a conflict with a SV, and querying a SV; providing screen displays to a user, via the GUI, for performing reconciling with a number portability administration center (NPAC) functions including at least one of initiating a NPAC audit, and querying a NPAC audit; and providing screen displays to a user, via the GUI, for performing viewing of LNP notifications functions including at least one of viewing operational information notifications, viewing cancellation acknowledge notifications, viewing customer disconnect notifications, viewing create request notifications, viewing concurrence request notifications, viewing SV status change notifications, viewing final concurrence notifications, and viewing a first use of numbering plan area-telephone number exchange (NPA-NXX) notifications.
The present invention provides a hardware and software platform to effect local number portability costing or charge auditing and network management support. The systems and subsystems of the invention are designed to communicate with a Number Portability Administration Subscription Manager (NPSM).
In addition, the systems and subsystems of the invention are designed to communicate with a Service Order Administration (SOA) engine which is later described. The above and other functions are performed by a Local Number Portability (LNP) Graphical User Interface (GUI) to upstream users (e.g., telecommunications service providers), according to the present invention.
With respect to local number portability costing support, the LNP GUI is structured as, for example, a WEB or Internet based tool to audit related charges. Users can quickly determine potential liability by accessing LNP GUI screens that detail porting activity. The information is updated on a real-time basis to insure accurate pricing and forecasting. In this way, accuracy of Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) charges can be easily determined. The NPAC receives and stores updated customer routing information and makes it available to participating service providers. The NPAC contains a record of all ported numbers and a history file of all transactions relating to the porting of a number. The above-noted LNP GUI costing support dramatically reduces the amount of time necessary to audit invoices and simplifies the dispute process. Additionally, the LNP GUI costing support can be of use to other companies in monitoring and auditing NPAC expenses.
With respect to local number portability network management support, the LNP GUI is structured as, for example, a WEB or Internet based tool to enable, for example, the National Network Management Center (NNMC) to determine ported number status on a real-time basis. The NNMC can quickly determine potential call completion risks by accessing LNP GUI screens that detail, for example, telecommunications service providers""porting activity. The information is updated on a real-time basis to insure accurate analysis and trouble shooting. In this way, NNMC staff can easily determine call completion exposures to, for example, telecommunications service providers""customers. This dramatically reduces the amount of time necessary to perform porting network audits and simplifies the customer support resolution process. Additionally, the LNP GUI can be of use to external companies in monitoring and trouble shooting network outages associated with local number porting activities.